Is TF2 being Crushed under its own weight?

[Soviet Heavy]

I really feel that TF2 is dying. Not in its playerbase, but that the game is actively trying to kill itself.

With every update, the core gameplay seems to keep getting buried under more and more stuff, until is barely resembles itself.

I came into the game around the Sniper Vs Spy update. I would have been happy if major updates had stopped by the time the Engineer update finally rolled around. But they didn't. Trading was added to the game. Bosses. More weapons.

It is just too much now. When the game first started, each class had a very specific role to play. While these roles are still available, they just aren't being used as much. Classes aren't acting the way they should be.

The worst I feel is the GRU for the heavy. These boxing gloves make the heavy run at high speeds to be a melee class. That is not supposed to be the heavy's strongpoint!

Anyway, it is seriously bothering me.

TLDR: Is TF2 dying under its own weight?

 

[Wadders]

I stopped playing after they added all the new shit like item drops and crafting. I loved the original class updates - they provided enough variation without changing the core use of each class, but now I just feel swamped by all the new stuff.

So as far as I'm concerned, the answer to your question is yes, it killed the game for me.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

Haveing heard some gripes from some players about how the game seems to be changing due to some of the updates, I'm no longer entirely bummed that I have the 360 version. Although more maps and some more weapons would be nice, I can see how making it overly complex would sort of change the whole nature of the game. With the vanilla version (which the 360 has) each class has a very specific role to play. With some of the weapons choices for the PC, classes can fufill entirely different roles (I'm looking at you demoman). I see nothing wrong with adding some weapons that expand a class's options within a particular role, but when you can choose weapons that escentially make you a different class, perhaps you are going too far.

Of course that's just me. I've never played the PC version so I don't know if it really does make as big of a difference as I say it does.

 

[archvile93]

Eh I always thought the game game was shit right out of the box, and the updates only made it worse. When would you find the time to fight a boss when the other team is trying to win the game anyway?

 

[WittyInfidel]

The worst I feel is the GRU for the heavy. These boxing gloves make the heavy run at high speeds to be a melee class. That is not supposed to be the heavy's strongpoint!

I just use the gloves to get somewhere quickly, then chop everything into kibble with my minigun. IDK, that's just me, I guess...

 

[linwolf]

Sort of agreed, the game is still fun. But all the updates have ruin most maps for me, only arena maps have stayed consistently fun.

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

I haven't played the PC version but I agree that it does look messy and overburdened.

New weapons and maps are nice, but when they completely mix up the core gameplay I just find it redundant...

 

[Quick Ben]

I've had the game since about two months after release, and I still think it's a great game. If they hadn't kept adding stuff then I think I would have lost interest long ago. I think the new stuff is a good thing. Now you can customize the classes to your play-style to a much greater extent, and I think that is a good thing. I'm having fun with the new stuff, and that's what really counts.

Remember that a game has to change to evolve, and I think TF2 is doing just that.

And I must add that I have very little respect for people complaining about hats, trading or the shop. If these things detract from your enjoyment of the game, then you're doing it wrong.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Eh, I don't really mind the new updates, but it'd be nice if Valve released a Vanillia gamemode personally.

By the way, no one uses the GRU for melee because it does terrible damage. It just makes getting around fast and you can keep up with your medic.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

It doesn't bother me about the updates. That's what a game needs sometimes to keep interest from the players.

 

[Davey Woo]

I recently played the 360 version I have again, and I used to be annoyed that it hadn't been updated, but now it's actually nice to go and play the game as it was when released. Clean, balanced and fun.

I don't think TF2 is dying, I think it's just evolving into a bigger game, if they stop releasing updates for it for a while maybe some people will revert back to the old tactics they used before any updates were released.

 

[Kejui]

It's not dying, just becoming something else.

Some don't like drastic change, and some do...sure, game-play dynamics change once you add things like bosses and trading, but it doesn't have to make the game immediately devoid of entertainment.

I think the game is all what you make of it; once a person decides it's been weighed down by this and that, it is weighed down. But, I honestly believe the game retains much replay value. I don't really use the trading function, and have always stuck to engineer and scout, anyway, so the class thing isn't going to change my playing style, because that's really the only way I know how to play.

Make sense? I didn't really think about my post...just rambled on.

 

[Lordmarkus]

Been playing the game for more than two years now and I love it as much as when I started it. And to answer your question, no the game isn't "dying under it's own weight". For me the game is better than ever and if you feel it's getting to much support by Valve and getting overflooded with gear, than just stop playing. TF2 got enough whiners already and if one less whiner is hardly an improvement, it's still something.

 

[Heart of Darkness]

It's not being crushed beneath its own weight. Gabe is more than capable of doing that himself. [/fatjoke]

OT: I kinda agree, but I disagree at the same time. Certain weapons themselves feel like upgrades to their counterparts (i.e., Equalizer, Degreaser) rather than sidegrades, creating an environment that favors the wealthy or the lucky (which reduces accessibility). Then again, by offering many different weapons, it allows for players to pick their fighting style for their favorite class. Want to be an attacking Engineer? You can do that. Defensive? You can do that, too.

The game's just changing to remain competitive. And only the player base can decide if those changes are good enough to keep playing the game.

 

[Zhukov]

Yeah, the way they keep updating the game years after release is just terrible.

All that new content is killing the game. They should have just left it how it was at release. Attempting to keep the gameplay fresh by adding new elements is a stupid idea.

Phht.

Seriously?

My one and only complaint is that sometimes players get distracted by the trading and whatnot. I'll be about to die, frantically mashing that "Medic!" button but all to no avail because both our medics are standing in a corner trading hats.

Everything else is fine.

 

[Citrus]

I loved the class updates, but I do think that TF2 is a bit diluted now. The class updates were great, but all this hubbub about community items and selling items for real money and trading and crafting, I personally think it takes away more from the game than it adds.

I understand that Valve likes to experiment and see how people react to different gameplay ideas, but I think the sudden RPG influence could have been done a bit subtler.

 

[Numachuka]

Eh I always thought the game game was shit right out of the box, and the updates only made it worse. When would you find the time to fight a boss when the other team is trying to win the game anyway?

How did updates make it worse?

 

[Daveman]

I don't know about killing the game but it certainly put me off the game. That goes all the way back to the very first class update. It was much clearer what each person had to do as part of the team before all the updates came, and it just became messy and a bit unbalanced after that. At least that's how I felt.